LogInSeveral Wizard of the Coast video games will be canceled as the publisher seeks to focus on games "strategically aligned" with developing its existing brands.
Dungeons & Dragons company Wizards of the Coast is scaling back its video game ambitions and canceling at least five unannounced games, Bloomberg reports. It's not clear which games have been canceled or how far along they were in development.
According to the company's spokesperson, the publisher remains "committed to using digital games" but will now "focus on games which are strategically aligned with developing our existing brands and those which show promise in expanding or engaging our audience in new ways."
While, as Wizard of the Coast claims, the change will see less than 15 company employees losing their jobs (who will be given an opportunity to apply for new roles at the company), it will potentially affect the studios which were working on games for Wizards of the Coast such as Otherside Entertainment and Hidden Path Entertainment.
Over the last few years, the publisher heavily invested in video games – it signed contracts with several game makers as well as opened multiple new studios, including Skeleton Key, an Austin-based studio headed by former BioWare developer Christian Dailey, and Invoke Games, a Montreal-based studio comprised of Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance developers.
Wizards of the Coast is publishing Baldur's Gate 3 from Larian Studios and had several other games in development such as a sci-fi RPG from former BioWare developer James Ohlen and a title from Atomic Arcade starring G.I. Joe's Snake Eyes.
In its push into the digital space, the publisher had some mixed results. While Baldur’s Gate 3, which has been in early access for more than two years, has had a pretty warm reception, some titles, such as 2021's Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance, were received poorly.
According to Bloomberg, the changes come amid financial difficulties at Wizards of the Coast's parent company Hasbro whose shares were down 40% last year due to lower toy sales caused by higher prices.
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